Archive - News Article
February 6th, 2013
BURRILLVILLE â As Lucille S. Guilbault remembers the Blizzard of â78 with lots of other local folks today, she will be thinking more about birthday candles than the stormâs incredible depths and drifts of snow.
In addition to today being the 35th anniversary of the big storm, itâs also the 35th birthday of Guilbaultâs daughter, Rebecca.
As the stormâs heaviest snows started to blanket the area in the early afternoon of Feb. 6, 1978, Guilbault began going into labor and was soon worrying about how she would get to the delivery room at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence.
PAWTUCKET â With the topic of gun violence on everyone's minds, two city councilors have come up with a targeted plan to reduce the amount of firearms on Pawtucket's streets. It involves holding a gun âbuy-back,â a concept that has proven successful in other communities.
February 4th
EAST PROVIDENCE â Planning Director Jeanne M. Boyle is slated to deliver some positive economic development news to the Town Council tonight, including reports that the developer of the Metacomet Office Park in East Providence is moving ahead with a proposal to construct a 430-unit multi-family development at Kettle Point.
A formal application has been submitted to the Waterfront Commission by real estate developer Churchill and Banks, which is proposing to begin construction on the new project later this year.
The council meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 145 Taunton Ave.
PAWTUCKET â Thanks to some convincing grant writing and aided by congressional support, Pawtucket will be receiving over $4 million in federal funds to hire 21 new firefighters.
February 3rd
CUMBERLAND â State Rep. Mia A. Ackerman (D-Dist. 45 Cumberland, Lincoln) is in talks with officials from the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) after learning that the Manville Hill Road Bridge on the Cumberland-Lincoln line will have to remain closed until the end of April.
PAWTUCKET â The state Department of Labor and Training (DLT), which closed its NetWORKri office in Pawtucket last September, is providing specially-formatted computers to organizations in or near the city to help improve access to its Unemployment Insurance claims filing system and its EmployRI.org virtual career center.
February 1st
PAWTUCKET â Amid the humming and clanking of dozens of machines twirling scores of spools of various textiles at the North East Knitting Company, an old red-brick factory on Conant Street, 1st District Rep. David Cicilline unveiled another version of his Make it in America Manufacturing Act.
PAWTUCKET â For the past 20 years, small- or medium-sized business owners, either in Pawtucket or looking to relocate here, have had a helping hand to turn to for some of their financing needs. It has come by way of a non-profit, quasi-city entity called the Pawtucket Business Development Corporation, and it's still very much a viable resource for providing low-interest lending even in this current difficult economy.
PROVIDENCE â Whether he runs as an Independent or a Democrat, and no matter which opponents he runs against, it looks like Gov. Lincoln Chafee is going to have a hard time keeping his job after the 2014 election.
Public Policy Polling (PPP), a Democratic-leaning national polling organization that surveyed Rhode Islanders last week, stated it starkly when they released their polling results Thursday: âLincoln Chafee's prospects for a second term as governor of Rhode Island are looking pretty dim.â
EAST PROVIDENCE â Pending the results of air quality tests scheduled to be taken Saturday in the wake of a water pipe break early Thursday morning at East Providence High School, interim School Superintendent John DeGoes said he anticipates the school will reopen on Monday as scheduled.
A water pipe in the new wing of the high school burst at around 8 a.m. Thursday, spewing enough water to flood 20 classrooms on two floors of the wing.
PAWTUCKET â Think the time has come for a modern take on the classic fairytale âCinderella?â One which follows the story of a handicapped young woman dealing with life and her unkind step-sisters in a gritty, urban setting (until, of course, she meets her âPrince Charmingâ)? Then it's time to join the âKickstarterâ campaign.
January 30th
PAWTUCKET â It's not every day that an actor in a cameo gets a compliment in front of his peers from the legendary movie director Steven Spielberg. It's even rarer when that actor with the impressive voice hails from Pawtucket.
January 29th
PROVIDENCE â Jessica Olarte wants to be a registered nurse and midwife. Khadijah Moody's goal is to be a pediatrician. Kahila Leigh is interested in the challenges of psychiatric nursing while Ayowole Tom-Jones desires to work in pediatrics. All of these young people with âhealing handsâ attend the Rhode Island Nurses Institute Middle College Charter School, a new high school located in downtown Providence.
January 28th
PAWTUCKET â It's a sad sign of the times when students tell their teachers that they don't get enough to eat on the weekends and other days that school isn't in session.
It's a problem that school officials have been aware of for years. However, when recent statistics showed that the city's average poverty level had increased substantially, the School Committee's Wellness Subcommittee decided to take action by launching a âBackpacks to Fight Hungerâ initiative.
LINCOLN â Troop 711 Albion Scouts Gian DiCostanzo, Bryan Guilbert and Matthew LaButti were elevated to the rank of Eagle Scout at a High Court of Honor on Dec. 29 at St. Ambrose Church, Albion.
It was the 11th Eagle Court of Honor for Troop 711, which was founded in 2005.
DiCostanzo, Guilbert and LaButti represent the 17th, 18th and 19th Eagle Scouts for Troop 711.
DiCostanzo, the son of of Kim DiCostanzo and the late John DiCostanzo of North Smithfield, is a graduate of Mount Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket.
January 27th
WOONSOCKET â Tax season has arrived and with it an opportunity for low income working families and individuals to tap the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITA) program for some extra money in their pocketbooks.
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse joined state and local officials and community partners at the Museum of Work and Culture on Friday to kick off this yearâs awareness effort aimed at increasing participation in the federal and state tax assistance program.
PAWTUCKET â In a concerted effort to improve efficiencies within and between city departments and to ultimately serve the public better, city department heads recently took part in a three-hour âLean Officeâ training session based on proven management principles used globally for many years across a number of top businesses and industries.
January 25th
PROVIDENCE â Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin Friday announced that convicted murderer Victor Arciliares, 24, was found guilty by a Providence County Superior Court jury of one count of first degree murder, discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence, discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle, assault with intent to commit murder and using a firearm while committing a crime of violence.
The jury delivered the guilty verdict after deliberating two-and-one-half days following a five-day trial presided over by Superior Court Justice Robert D. Krause.
PROVIDENCE â Central Falls Rep. Gus Silva has once again introduced legislation that would restrict the authority of receivers, budget commissions and overseers appointed to cities and towns by the state to fiscal matters only and not to any other aspect of municipal government.
Under the legislation, receivers or other state interveners would not be allowed to relegate any elected body to an advisory capacity, as the receiver did to the City Council in Central Falls, or to abolish any board or commission of a city or town.
PAWTUCKET â On the surface, a city with a vibrant river running through it should be able to boast about âlocation, location, location.â Yet, because the Blackstone River was long used and abused for the purpose of industry, the riverfront property in Pawtucket and neighboring Central Falls is far from anyone's idea of âhigh-endâ real estate.
